


The Oval Portrait Changes Everything

by dracothelittlepuff



Series: draco's Heliot [4]
Category: Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Death, EAP's MMIOCDP+GfF+P, F/M, Murder, im absolutely trying to push this ship on everyone, stabby stab times :D, tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24399964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracothelittlepuff/pseuds/dracothelittlepuff
Summary: Based off of the original series, but instead of Mary Ann dying in the washroom, it's... well, read it. It changes the whole evening and timeline as we know it.
Relationships: Ernest Hemingway/George Eliot, Ernest Hemingway/Mary Ann Evans, Hemingway/Eliot
Series: draco's Heliot [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817368
Comments: 13
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> More swearing and angst than usual mwahahahaha! And spoilers so please watch EAP'S MMIOCDP+GfF+P first if you haven't already. And yes I'm absolutely trying to push this ship on everyone lol
> 
> And two characters make out heatedly but I promise it doesn't go beyond that ;)

-The Oval Portrait-

"Here you are. Oscar?" Annabel Lee said, gesturing to the washroom. He handed the shirt to Mary Ann. "You need this more than I do." She nodded in thanks and Oscar went into the washroom.

"So..." Annabel said. "So," Mary Ann responded. It looked like Annabel was going to say something else but then there was a scream from the washroom. Annabel's eyes widened. "I'll go get-" she ran off before Mary Ann could hear the rest.

The woman knocked on the door. "Oscar? Oscar!" Edgar was there in an instant with HG and Lenore behind him. "What's going on? Where's Annabel?"

"She went to find you!" Mary Ann said. Edgar tested the knob to find it locked and then slammed the door open.

"There you are, what's happening?" Annabel said, returned again. Everyone froze looking down at Oscar with a portrait over his head. He looked up and Annabel dropped to his side. "Oh no... who did this to you?"

"It was... I didn't see," he said weakly and then his head dropped. Oscar Wilde was dead.

"Wait... where's Ernest?" Edgar asked. They all raced to the study, but only Charlotte was there in the chair tied down with wire. "Guess Charlotte can't be the murderer, she was with us the whole time," Lenore sighed. "Thank you," the woman sighed. "Her only crime was being totally basic."

"I did it!" Ernest said. Everyone gasped and turned around. Mary Ann almost felt her heart stop. Not her Ernest. "I brought knives for everyone! For protection," he grinned. Goddammit.

"No, in protecting us, you will also be giving the murderer a knife," Edgar said. "Alright, I think the murderer is doing alright," Lenore said. "You disappear while two people are murdered, and then reappear with instruments of death?" Charlotte said skeptically.

"Well, I was in the kitchen. Where the knives live."

"How am I still tied up?" The woman asked. "Ugh, fine," Lenore groaned. Everyone left the room except for Ernest and Mary Ann. Ernest set to work cutting Charlotte free. "Careful. Watch yourself! Have you done this before?"

"Is this arousing, or what?" Ernest smirked. "No, what's- oh, god." He got her free and she quickly followed the others out to the hall. Ernest was about to as well but Mary Ann caught his sleeve. "Ernest." He turned. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I just. It could have been me dead in the washroom. I just, I'm scared," she said quietly. He put his arms around her. "Honey, it's gonna be okay. We have knives for protection, and we have each other."

"I know." She looked carefully at his shirt and ran her hands over his chest. "Also. You..."

"Are you trying to tell me something, Mae?" Ernest gently lifted her chin to look at him and winked. She laughed. "No. You're just... you're flirting with all these women, and... I don't know."

He got quiet and serious. "Right. Sorry. You know I lo-" he stopped himself. "You know it's fake," he said instead.

"I know. I just worry."

"About me?"

"About if one of those women flirts back. And... you're drunk. And..."

"Mary Ann. I would never do anything of the sort." He kissed her quickly, lightly. "Honestly, Brontë still seems suspicious to me. I was saying that to put her on edge a little, I didn't mean it."

"Yeah..."

"Let's go." He kissed her once more and slipped his hand into hers. They let go by the time they joined the others in the hall, where HG was talking. "You were saying something about your family hiring a psychic to conjure ghosts of the dead?" He asked Lenore. "Mhm. Krishanti."

"Well, we have a lot of dead people in this house, and I'm sure at least one of them saw whoever killed them."

"Is the good professor suggesting we have a seance?"

-Spirits of the Dead-

They were waiting in the study and Mary Ann stood up. "I need to use the washroom."

"What- Can you not wait, Mary- George?" Edgar asked exasperatedly.

"Well, it's not like I got the chance before," she retorted. Ernest quickly got to his feet. "I can accompany the gentleman." Edgar rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever. Hurry back."

They quickly left the room together and Mary Ann grabbed his hand as soon as they were out of eyeshot. "Ernest. I-I'm scared." He glanced back over his shoulder and then pulled her into a dimly lit room in the hallway. It was a basic sitting room. "Mae, it's gonna be okay, I promise. I'll get you out of here if it's the last thing I do."

Mary Ann smiled weakly. "Thank you, Ernie. I just- you need to be careful too, okay?" Ernest grinned. "I'll get us out of here if it's the last thing I do," he corrected himself. Mary Ann stepped forwards and hugged him fiercely. She pulled away and looked up at him, her eyes flicking to his lips. Ernest looked back at her with an amused smile. "Now?"

Mary Ann was the one who kissed him first softly. Ernest was the one who deepened the intensity so they were pressed against each other, their fingers at each other's buttons.

~~

The door opened onto a scene quite unlike what the group was expecting. They froze.

Ernest had Mary Ann against the wall and he kissing her passionately, shirt open. Mary Ann kissed him back with the same fervour. Her shirt was halfway undone, her suit jacket on the floor.

When the door opened, Ernest turned in an instant. He sort of blocked Mary Ann with his body. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked.

Edgar Allen Poe, Lenore, H.G. Wells, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Dickinson, and Annabel Lee stared.

"Ernest, what's going on?" Edgar asked after a moment.

"Nothing."

Lenore smirked. "No, clearly something is happening."

Ernest blushed. "Seriously, what the hell are you doing?" He repeated.

"We were looking for you two," Annabel said delicately. "Krishanti is almost here."

"Well," Mary Ann stepped out from behind Ernest. "Here we are." She wore her suit jacket, all buttoned up and smoothed down, and her fake moustache once more. She spoke as George Eliot.

"Darling, we know you're a woman now," Lenore said.

Mary Ann dropped her gaze.

"We knew before," she added.

"How about we all just leave these two alone and let them make their own way down," Annabel suggested.

They all shuffled out of the room and Ernest slammed the door after them. "Fuck."

Mary Ann tore off the moustache which was half falling off her face anyways. "Darling, maybe it won't be so bad."

"No, they fucking should have knocked. Not just barged in here," Ernest growled.

Mary Ann kissed his cheek. "Ernie, please don't be so mad."

He turned to her, his face hard. "Why not? And what would they think, me making out with someone who-" He stopped himself, realizing his mistake.

"Who what?" Mary Ann's voice was quiet and dangerous. Ernest smiled nervously. "I mean. You know I lo-"

"Don't do that now, Ernest. Don't say that now. Someone who what?"

"You know I didn't mean it like that, Mary Ann. George. I-" He turned away, hand on his forehead. "Jesus. Sorry. I don't know what to do, to call you, I don't know anything," he said frustratedly.

"You don't get it. Right? Pretending to be a man all the time for me is just a lie. It's fucking fake, you know it and I know it and they certainly know it now." Her voice was rising and she turned away.

"Mary Ann-"

"When your life is all about pretending, you get really good at it."

Ernest's face softened. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She didn't reply. "I love you, I do. Honestly."

She whirled on him. "Well, maybe I don't know if I love you or the idea of you. Maybe I want to love you but I don't know if I can. Maybe because you're a man and I secretly need to be a woman so I sleep with you and try to love you to validate that and-" Tears were pouring down her face now. "You should go."

"Mary Ann, I can't just leave you here if the-"

"Go!" She shouted.

Ernest left her in the room without a backwards glance. He saw Annabel, Edgar and Lenore in the hall but swept past them without a word.

Mary Ann sniffed, wiped at her nose, slumped down against the wall with her eyes squeezed closed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I skipped 'Mesmeric Revelation' but I'm not gonna do all the chapters. So this is after their fight. Mary Ann stayed in that other room for a while until Krishanti got there and she returned to the others. Ernest and her ignored each other all throughout Krishanti being there and a bit after she was murdered which brings us up to here.
> 
> TW: violence, gore but not really super detailed? Idk

-The Cask of Amontillado-

Charlotte paced the room and Ernest sat leaned back in an armchair. Mary Ann sat opposite him and Annabel stood beside her.

"Well, this is great," Charlotte said. "Poe is probably dead now, too."

"Don't say such a thing," Annbel scolded.

"Miss Lee, tonight is a test," Ernest said. "The world breaks everyone, and afterwards, some are stronger in the broken places." He looked at Mary Ann and sipped from his flask.

"Thank you, we never would have known," Mary Ann replied sarcastically.

"At least I can confront it like a man," he muttered. Mary Ann flushed. "Yeah, I'm sure you're a real man being so drunk all the time, huh?"

"I don't hide behind witticisms and bon mots, I tell it like it is," he said, procuring another glass.

"Where are you getting these drinks?" Mary Ann scoffed. He jumped to his feet. "Are you trying to fight?"

Mary Ann held up her fists. "I'm more of a fighting man than you could ever be."

"Oh, here we go with this," Charlotte sighed.

"I'm sure your boxing matches are as short as your stories," Mary Ann added. Ernest's eyes flashed and he lunged at her.

Mary Ann started for him but they were both stopped by surprisingly strong arms.

Charlotte held back Ernest while Annbel stood between him and Mary Ann, trying to keep them from flying at each other.

Someone cleared their throat and they all stopped and turned to see Edgar enter the room with two policemen.

Edgar spouted some bull about a writer's conference they were having and they all denied having ever seen Agatha Christie that evening. Mary Ann glanced at Ernest and his eyes were cold when he looked back at her. She had a horrible sinking feeling in her chest.

Then they asked some questions. "Sir, could you tell me where you were last Thursday night?" One of them asked Ernest.

Mary Ann felt her heart pound when she remembered what had happened between them. "I was..." Don't tell, them, please, god- "Hosting friends. On my skiff, off the coast of Cuba. We drank rum. Smoked cigars." The rum and cigars was true, at least. "I wrestled one of them." Kind of.

"That sounds like a ton of fun!" Constable Jimmy said. It was. "It wasn't. Life is suffering."

They finally left the room. Ernest chuckled "A little hot-blooded excitement can be good for you sometimes!"

"Speaking of which, where was our invite to your boat party?" Charlotte asked. Mary Ann almost laughed out loud but her amused smile fell with Ernest's response and the implications it held. "Perhaps next time, Chuck. Miss Lee, care to join us on my next foray to the Havana? We'll drink rum as the sun rises, and habanera as it sets." He kissed her hand.

"You can dance?" Charlotte asked. Mary Ann pressed her lips together. Of course he could dance, he was the one who taught her. "Madam, I am an expert in the art of the contradanza." He spun Annabel.

"Well, this I gotta see," Charlotte said. To Mary Ann's surprise, he dropped Annabel's hand and held one out for her. She only hesitated for a second before taking it. He spun her close to him and they started dancing around the room. Mary Ann bit her bottom lip to keep a smile off her face. She was supposed to be mad at him.

"Legs move together, no more crossing! Where are we, Argentina? Come on!" He dipped her low and Mary Ann relished the feeling of being held, his strong hand on her back.

They heard a movement in the doorway and quickly straightened back up to see Edgar return with the two policemen. "Often with food metaphors, are we hungry for food? Or each other?" Edgar asked rhetorically as a way of explanation.

They asked the times that everyone got there.

"I arrived a little bit past 6. Never be too available, you know," Ernest said. "6:15, fashionably late," Charlotte said.

"6:07," Mary Ann said. "We were- I was the last one here. 6:45? Just myself and no one else," Annabel explained.

They left again. "Never be too available? Might as well etch that onto your tombstone," Charlotte sighed.

"Before you start harping on my lack of vulnerability, know that I learned that from an enclave of basque monks I camped with in the forests of the Pyrenees."

"So then you are available?" Charlotte asked.

"To the right owner." Ernest glanced at Mary Ann. "Those fellas let the isolation get to them, I think. Had a strange way of invigorating the mind: in order to increase brain activity, they often meditated upside down."

"Did it work?" Annabel asked. "Did it make them smarter?"

"Well..."

~~

Mary Ann lay upside down on the chair. Beside her, Ernest did his best to balance in a half-handstand and Charlotte was only half upside down across a chair. Annabel was the only upright one.

"Fighting and dancing I get, but upside-down meditating?" Jim snapped. "Well, I don't see what this has to do with writing food metaphors!" Everyone straightened up.

"We're gonna need some honest answers here! You!" Jimmy pointed to Mary Ann with his pencil and she froze. "Come here. I've got some questions for you." She didn't move. Jimmy looked at Jim and he whispered in the younger man's ear. "Okay, stay there! I'll come to you."

"Your name?"

"Um. George Eliot," Mary Ann said.

"Mr. Eliot. Did you meet Agatha Christie before this night?"

"No," Mary Ann replied truthfully.

"Did you meet an Eddie Dantes?"

She paled. "Um." Her eyes flitted over to Ernest. "Yes. Through my publisher." The man nodded at her a bit in encouragement.

"Alright. Did you ever get to know him or did either of you hold a grudge against each other?" He just knew I'm a woman. So that was fucking terrifying.

She hesitated and Jimmy narrowed his eyes. "Did you?" He pressed.

"I don't see how this is related," Ernest cut in. Jimmy turned to him. "Oh, just a connection through names, friends, so on, Mr. ...?"

"Hemingway. I don't think it's fair to interrogate this friend of mine here like this, sh- he knows no more about Ms. Christie and Mr. Dantes than I do." At least that was true.

Jimmy looked up at Jim. "We better be going, anyways," Constable Jim said. "Thank you for your time."

The two policemen left, followed by Edgar and Annabel and then Charlotte.

Ernest turned to Mary Ann. "Listen, I-" he sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry, okay? I just- I think the alcohol was getting to my head, and being stuck here with all of them and- I'm- I'm sorry."

Mary Ann hugged him tightly, pressing her face against his chest. Her voice was muffled by the fabric. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to fight you."

Ernest laughed. "You did look pretty cute." Mary Ann blushed, grateful her face was hidden in his coat. "I love you."

"Oh..." He softened against her. "I love you, too, Mae." He was pulled down by his shirt collar and Mary Ann kissed him.

"We should go," he murmured against her lips. She let go of him, face flushed. "When this is over..."

"Yeah. I promise." Ernest kissed her one more time and pulled her out to the hall to follow the others. They found them, minus the Constables, in the hallway below the stairs. The three were looking up at Lenore on the staircase, a lifeless HG slumped at her feet.

Mary Ann hesitated in the doorway and gripped Ernest's elbow. He looked down at her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. It was a heavy and comforting weight. "It's okay," he whispered. "We'll be alright, darling."

She looked up at him, surprised. Ernest wasn't usually one for nicknames with her other than Mae, except when he was very drunk.

"I just- I went up to the roof," Lenore was saying. "And I came back down and he was just-" She stopped talking.

"Funny how the smoke didn't kill you, too," Charlotte said. Lenore glared at her. "I am already dead!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Well, I think we should keeping going around the house. Trying to find the killer."

"Wait..." Mary Ann said slowly. "Wait, the smoke?"

Lenore looked at her from the stairs. "Yeah, it was like, toxic gas or something? I dunno, I guess it's original."

Annabel and Edgar exchanged a glance.

"Yeah, well, I don't remember the ghost talking about any smoke," Mary Ann addressed Charlotte directly. The woman's face flushed. "What are you implying?"

"All night long, you've just been blaming other people," Mary Ann said, advancing on her. "We've brought the blame to you and you've weaseled your way out every time."

"I didn't even know the full guest list," Charlotte scoffed. "And what would be my motive, huh?"

Ernest and Mary Ann turned on Edgar simultaneously. He shook his head. "I didn't make the list!"

"Who did, then?" Ernest demanded.

"Well... it was Annabel." Her face dropped and Charlotte smirked. "You're not safe yet, Brontë. We're only finding your accomplice," Ernest said.

Annabel slowly backed away. "I didn't... it's..." She turned and ran full speed. Edgar was after her in an instant and Mary Ann grabbed Ernest's hand and pulled him down another hall. "We can cut her off," she panted.

They burst out onto a smaller side porch and Mary Ann looked at him. "I love you but we need to split up." She kissed him hard and quickly and ran off down around one side of the house. Ernest shrugged to himself and went around the other.

~~

Mary Ann raced down towards a smalll copse of trees, seeing a shadow fleeing down the hillside in a dress. She was almost at her heels, and then right behind her, and a lunge and they were on the ground, rolled a bit, and came to a stop with Mary Ann above her.

Her eyes widened when she realized it wasn't Annabel, but the figure twisted around and made a sharp movement and there was a flash of silver in the moonlight, and then another.

Mary Ann dropped back on her back to the ground, darkness stainning her hands. "Who..." she murmured, but the mysterious figure was gone. Mary Ann twisted, tried to see up the hill, stood up shakily. She was just at the edge of the treeline, and within shouting distance, but she felt so very heavy. Not tired, she was wide awake with adrenaline coursing through her, just heavy.

"Ernest! E-Ernie." Her voice was quieted as if from behind a thick curtain. "Ernest... my love..." Her head spun and she dropped to her knees, hands across her stomach, and retched.

Darkness stained the grass and Mary Ann slowly looked down to see the damage. There were two or three tears in her jacket with the same dark around them, and as the adrenaline wore off, her cheek stung. With a swipe of her hand across her face, her cuffed sleeves came away with more red. She still didn't register the mind-numbing pain in her side, just distantly aware of it.

"Ernest," she whispered again, curling up on the ground with her forehead pressed into the cool damp grass. He was there, his voice calling out for her. He came. Of course he came. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

~~

Ernest Hemingway ran around the house to see... nothing. He returned inside cautiously, dropping by the kitchen silently to get a knife for self defense, and crept to through the house. He heard voices in the study and slowly opened the door. Charlotte was there, tied to a chair with wire again, and Edgar sat on the floor in front of Annebl Lee's dead body.

"Oh, great, now the drunk is here." Charlotte said.

"Hold it, Brontë. What happened?"

"My friend caught Annabel trying to escape, is what happened."

"Where's Mary Ann?"

"Oh... is she missing?" Charlotte smiled sweetly. "I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere."

Ernest grabbed the arms of the chair and leaned down to her, letting the blade of the knife rest across her neck just above her collar bone. "Where. Is. Mary. Ann?" He hissed.

She kicked at his shins and he stepped out of the way just in time. "I don't know," Charotte admitted. "But I'm sure she's just taken care of."

Ernest straightened up "I'm going to find her."

"I don't think that'd be such a good idea, Hemingway," a voice came from the doorway and a man stepped through, into the room.

Ernest took a step forward. "You. What did you do to her?"

Eduardo Dantes smiled lightly. "I'm not too sure. I haven't seen her since I died, remember?"

Ernest flew at the man.

~~

He pressed the ice pack to his aching head. "I don't know," he told the police officer honestly. "I- I'm sorry. Wait..." He tried to stand up but was gently albeit firmly pushed back down. "Mary Ann. She's- She's out there, we tried to find them, I don't know where she is," he babbled.

"Okay, sir, it's okay. We'll find her. Where did you say you two went?"

"Outside, around-"

"Petey! We found-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes the mysterious not-Annabel was in fact Anne Brontë, Charlotte's sister. And... did Mary Ann actually hear Ernest come? Or was it her imagination? Will she be okay? Or will she DIE? Find out in the next chapter ;)
> 
> Seriously though sorry to leave y'all on a cliffhanger (idk if anyone cares lol) but I'll update this with the third and final chapter tomorrow!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Third and final chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to wrap this up and it ended up being this so I hope you enjoy ;) Mary Ann may (Mae, get it?) or may not be dead.  
> (sorry for the delay in updating the story)  
> TW for death and murder and scars haha :)

Ernest ran down the hill towards her lifeless body. He skidded to a stop and fell to his knees, lifting her and cradling her in his arms. His body shook with sobs and he muttered insistently, bending over her, "No, no, no, I love you, no, Mary Ann, my Mae, no-"

His tears wet her pale blank face, her eyes wide, blank, dull. She was so much more pale than usual, and cold, and limp. "I'm sorry," he cried. "I'm so sorry."

There was a click and he looked up to the barrel of a gun. "I didn't-" he tried.

There was a resounding bang and he was... still alive. He opened his eyes and saw no one except for himself and Mary Ann again. He pulled her closer to him, willing for it to not be true as he sobbed over her body.

Her unnaturally hot breaths tickled his ear and he froze. "Ernest."

"M-Mae?" He sniffed.

"You weren't there. You didn't save me. I'm dead because of you. This is all your fault. I'm dead because of you, Ernie. It's all because of you."

"I know, I'm s-sorry, I-I'm so sorry, my d-darling-"

"You killed me, Ernest." Her voice was calm, steady, light. "Now it's time for me to return the favour."

Ernest sat upright, heaving for breaths. He kicked away the covers and dropped his legs off the side of the bed, pressing his toes into the carpet to ground himself. It was just a nightmare, just a bad dream. That's all it was. You're safe, we're safe, he told himself. He ran his hands through his hair to try and ground himself, glanced back to make sure Mary Ann was indeed still there, and stood up.

He walked through their house and downstairs, out to the front porch. He found a cigarette in his hands and lit it without much thought. The old familiar motion helped steady his hands and his head.

The moon glowed brightly, a full moon. A movement behind him and to the side made him look up quickly, a couple strands of his hair falling into his eyes.

"Daddy, are you a werewolf?" Maywhispered, her eyes wide. Ernest smiled at her, his eyes crinkling at the sight of his daughter standing there in her pyjamas. She looked like him, yes, but also undeniabley had Mary Ann in her with her large, soft eyes and the way her darker hair fell around her face.

"No, May," he laughed. "What are you doing up? You should have been in bed hours ago."

"You, too," she said seriously.

"That's true," he conceded. 

May walked to his side and sat down beside him, taking one of his hands in both of her smaller ones. "Daddy, you shouldn't do that," she said.

"Do what?"

"Smoke. It's bad for you, isn't it?"

Ernest sighed and put out the cigarette. "You're right, honey. I especially shouldn't be smoking around you," he added softly.

"Mummy said you quit and if I see you smoking I should tell her."

"That's good. Yeah... your Mom and I care about each other a lot. You know, we both used to smoke," he added.

Her mouth dropped open in shock. "Mummy did?"

"Everyone used to," he laughed at her expression. "But I don't want you to, ever. She's right, it is bad for you. Okay?"

"Okay. It smells weird," she said. Her fingers traced along his thoughtfully. "Daddy, you look tired. You should go back to bed."

"Mmm."

"Why are you here?"

"Just a dream, honey."

"A bad one?" She asked softly. Ernest smiled, pleasantly surprised but not shocked. Their daughter might not have been the brightest at school or writing or any other material thing, but she could see right through people.

"Yes, a bad dream."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

He imagined his wife's lifeless body again. "Don't worry about me, May."

"Okay."

"Why are you awake?"

She shrugged a little. "I just woke up. I went to see you and Mummy but you weren't there so I came looking for you."

"Why did you want to see us, sweetie?"

"To see if you were okay." He could tell there was something else she wanted to talk about. "And?"

"Daddy, you know Becca?"

"Your friend?"

"No, she's not my friend."

"No? What happened, May?"

"She's my girlfriend."

Ernest laughed. "Ah. That's good, she's very nice."

"I'm serious!" She pouted.

"No, I believe you, honey. And know that your mother and I both want to support you with whoever you might like."

She smiled again.

"Honey, there might be people you meet who think it's wrong, you know?" Ernest continued. "Two girls together. But you can ignore them, and if anyone give you any trouble - even teachers or other adults - you tell me, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy. Thank you!" She hugged him and he hugged her back, rubbing her back lightly.

"Of course, sweetie. We should go back to bed now, no?"

"Yeah."

They stood up and she yawned. Ernest smiled affectionately, bent down, and picked her up.

He carried her inside, closed and locked the door behind them, and brought her back upstairs to her room.

He set her in her bed and kissed her forehead. "I love you, May."

"Love you, Daddy," she mumbled, her eyes already closing. Ernest pulled the blankets up over her and stepped back. He paused in the doorway, looking at her in bed for a moment, and turned the lights off, going back to his room.

As he got into bed Mary Ann rolled over to look at him. "Ernie..." she whispered, her voice scratchy from sleep.

"Yeah."

"You okay?"

"Mhmm," he sighed. He reached out his arms and they shifted towards each other until Mary Ann was curled in his arms, her back pressed against his chest. "Are you?"

"Yeah. I just got up to use the washroom and you were gone." She frowned and twisted her head back a bit to look at him. "Ernest... were you smoking?"

"Sorry, baby. I was just really stressed. May actually stopped me."

"May was up?" Mary Ann said, more awake.

"Yeah. She was just worried about me, but I told her I'm okay and put her back to bed."

"Are you?"

Ernest's hands found her abdomen, felt the bulge of her stomach, the scars along her side. She was getting bigger all the time, but of course always just as gorgeous to him. "Yeah. Just a little dream, but I have my daughter, my wife, and the next lil kiddo on the way. Everything's perfect, Mae."

She smiled, her hands above Ernest's on her stomach. "You haven't called me that in years."

"Because I got used to calling you my beautiful wife," he teased. "Almost ten years of marriage, darling."

"That name's never gonna go, is it?" Mary Ann asked softly.

"You'll always be my darling," Ernest promised. He yawned. "I love you, Mary Ann."

"I love you, too, Ernest."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realize you might be confused about stuff. Maybe you're not, idk. If you're confused (mostly about timing) at all:
> 
> Basically, they found Mary Ann where she had been stabbed by Anne and she got better but still had scars. Ernest and her continued dating until he proposed about a year and a half after the events of Poe Party. A year after their wedding, she became pregnant, so May was actually born four(ish) years after the events of Poe Party. (Also I changed May's name - she was Katie before but she's May now)
> 
> In this story, May is about 7 years old and they're expecting another child. So it's 11ish years after Poe Party happened. I didn't write either of them as really sad/reflective about their friends from the party because now Edgar just has a bunch of ghosts hanging out at his place all the time and they can visit them whenever. I really enjoyed writing this cute little family!!
> 
> Okay sorry these author notes are getting long lol bye
> 
> (also May is a lesbian icon and I love her thankyouandgoodnight)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I'm so sorry for killing off Oscar but someone had to die and everyone else was either vital to the overall story (EAP, Lenore, Eliot, Hemingway, Brontë) or killed off later (Dickinson, Annabel, HG). Please don't yell at me.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed this so far!


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